Last year, I made one of the hardest decisions of my creative career. I had to cancel my position at the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show.
It was the first time in many years I had ever stepped back from a major commitment like that, and I didn’t take the decision lightly. I was scheduled for surgery, and my health simply had to come first. As much as it broke me emotionally, I knew that without health, there is no creativity, no work, no future to build from. So I stepped away – with great distress, heartbreak, and a deep sense of disappointment – but it was the right decision.
And then I spent the year healing.
Back With a Bang!
This year, everything changed. Returning to the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show felt like stepping back into a world I had deeply missed. It wasn’t just another event – it felt like a return to myself, to my practice, and to the place where my creativity lives and breathes.
And we didn’t come back quietly. We came back with a bang.
At this year’s show, I created a five-day, on-the-ground live activation inside the Great Hall of Flowers, where more than 120,000 visitors moved through the show over the duration of the event. The atmosphere was electric – the entire space filled with floral installations, garden showcases, and an overwhelming sense of creative energy.
Inside the Great Hall, I built a working studio space that evolved in real time. Over four intensive build days, we constructed two distinct sets – one black, one white – creating a contrasting foundation for the Floral Couture to come alive. Once the structure was in place, the space transformed into a living studio. It wasn’t static; it was constantly shifting, responding to the work, the people, and the energy in the room.
The Floral Couture was created and installed live on site, first on mannequins and then brought to life on live models who stepped into the garments within the exhibition space itself. Across the five days, we worked with three different models, each bringing a different expression and energy to the pieces.
And the public was right there with us.
Creating Work While the Audience Is Present
People gathered continuously, watching the build unfold hour by hour. It became a shared experience – not just an exhibition, but a performance of making. We would build for around four to five hours each day, and then the work would remain in place as a living installation for visitors to walk through, engage with, and experience up close.
What I loved most was the interaction.
People didn’t just look – they spoke to us. They shared their thoughts, their excitement, and their interpretations. Those small moments of connection fed the creative process in real time. There is something incredibly powerful about creating work while the audience is present, responding, and emotionally engaged.
We also extended the work beyond the building itself, taking the Floral Couture out into the surrounding gardens and throughout the historic exhibition spaces. The contrast between structured installation and natural landscape added another layer to the story we were telling – flowers not just as decoration, but as living, evolving art.
In the Exhaustion, the Focus Sharpens, and the Work Becomes Instinctive
Creatively, it was everything I love about this work: the transformation of fresh florals into sculptural form, the intensity of live creation, the unpredictability of working in real time, and the exchange of energy between artist and audience.
But it was also exhausting.
Anyone who has worked in large-scale live activation will understand the physical and emotional demand of building continuously over multiple days, on your feet, in motion, in creation. It pushes you to your edge – and then somehow beyond it. Yet that is also where the magic sits. In the exhaustion, the focus sharpens. The work becomes instinctive. There is no space for overthinking – only making.
This project also marked something deeper for me personally.
This Show Was a Return Point
The past year has been focused on healing. I haven’t been operating at full capacity in the way I once was. There have been smaller projects, some television work, a few activations here and there – but largely, I stepped back to recover and rebuild.
This show became a return point.
A reminder of what I love, why I create, and what happens when I step back into full creative alignment.
And now, with clear markers of healing ahead of me, I feel ready again. Ready to step back into the floral world. Ready to build, to create, to collaborate, and to push the boundaries of what Floral Couture can be.
This activation wasn’t just a project. It was a re-entry. And I couldn’t be more grateful for it.
The Team:
Floral Designer / Conceptual Artist: @flowersbyjuliarose | Hair & Makeup Artist: @the_runway_artist | Model Management: @vicoola.fashion.agency Model: @topaztung | Photographer: @wanderlust_light_lens | Suppliers for MIFGS: @premiumgreensaustralia, @boutstix, @theoldecreameryau, @thepatchgippsland, @melbflowershow
Keep updated with our latest creative adventures on socials Facebook and Instagram. Visit www.flowersbyjuliarose.com for more!
